The Return of the Bad boy

Chapter 30: Cam

I didn't know how to feel on Monday.

My talk with Summer over the weekend had her in tears but I was glad it was all out in the open. She finally understood my actions and she said she had never doubted that I had a good reason.

Summer was accepting, a good listener, kind and absolutely amazing in every way.

Walking into the school building that morning, my brain had been in Summerland, taking up residency.

Summer had surprised me with a swift kiss on the cheek. "Morning Cam," she winked.

I had stood there with my jaw hanging open and no words to speak.

As the day went on, it was more of the same behavior. Summer walked with me to class, Summer held my hand, Summer and the girls sitting with me, and Suho. Then Summer kissed me goodbye before leaving school.

As if my day couldn't have possibly gotten any better, Summer texted me that evening, and we spent all night talking. I had missed that.

I had missed it so much that I made sure we did it every night since then.

So when Summer asked me last night to go with her to this charity event, I couldn't say no. Rumors be damned. If Summer wanted to fight for us, she wouldn't do it alone.

"Awe, you look so handsome." I whipped around but not in time to prepare myself for the bright camera flash.

"Jeeze, Mom," I said, rubbing my eyes. "Why did you have to stand so close?"

I blinked a few times, waiting for my vision to go back to normal.

"Get used to it." Mom took the instant-printed photo, fanning it out. "You'll have a lot of reporters with cameras flashing and sportscasters with their mic in your face when you're famous." She grinned then looked at the photo to see if it had developed yet.

"This is going on my mirror. But I'll need to take a few more for the photo album."

Mom got into a prime photographer position. "Come on, come on. Model for me. GQ front cover pose."

I posed, pretending to adjust my cufflinks. Then I sleeked my hair back with one hand and threw in more of those classic poses.

Mom would need a whole new album after this, not that she would mind. She always said that she felt like we didn't take pictures as we used to, and we needed to get back to that.

She was right. Life's been so busy that we didn't take the time to capture moments that were important to us. Even if it were a single photo, that would be more than enough.

Mom laid all my photos down on the kitchen table. One by one, we watched them slowly develop.

"Perfect," Mom muttered to herself with a smile.

"I know, I know. I look dashing."

Mom waved me off. "Shush." Then she turned to me with her eyes falling on my tie. After watching multiple videos online, I know I didn't do the best job on it.

Mom's hands went to work on it.

"I should have bought a clip-on," I mumbled, feeling silly about being dressed up in a suit and having no clue how to fix a tie properly.

Other than that, I looked pretty good. I've had this suit taking up space in my closet since I wore it to Uncle Alex's brand relaunch party last year. We had been matching with Mom, who had worn a navy blue Grecian style dress. One of our best customers called her an angel, while the other asked if she needed a sugar daddy. They all got quiet when they saw her bodyguard, aka me, step up to her side, politely hauling her away. Mom thanked me for the save because she wanted nothing else from them while she appreciated their business.